How Mother Monster’s Cancelled Tour Is Costing Millions

As Little Monsters mourn the cancellation of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Ball, Live Nation Global Touring is scrambling to shut down one of the most successful pop tours in history.

After first postponing four dates due to a case of synovitis, which is severe inflammation of the joints, the global BTWB was forced to call off all remaining concerts because of Lady Gaga’s injury — a labral tear in her right hip that requires surgery and strict downtime to recover.

But shuttering the tour is no small feat for the touring professionals behind BTWB, which had grossed $168.2 million through Jan. 17. With 22 shows cancelled from the North American leg, which was to conclude the tour and was almost completely sold out, roughly 200,000 tickets are set to be refunded, which total to a loss of $25 million in gross sales, according to Billboard.

Beyond compensating thwarted concertgoers, Live Nation must cover many bases in the cancellation of one of 2012’s highest grossing tours: venues are notified, press releases put out, and all of production is shut down, sending more than 100 strong of cast and crew and all staging equipment packing back to their proper homes.

For the venues that were to host Mother Monster, the losses run deep — on top of recompensed ticket sales, they will miss out on potential moneymaking from concessions, merchandise and parking.

Even Gaga herself suffers a financial setback from the scrapping of BTWB. As she undergoes surgery and rests during recovery, she will kiss goodbye the paychecks she would’ve pocketed per concert, which ran in the seven-figure range.

In the meantime, Little Monsters are now left waiting with bated breath for their next dose of Gaga, which may well be ARTPOP, her much-anticipated upcoming fourth studio album. The artist plans to release it as an app, as well as on CD and in digital form.

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